No.  211 


' 3lyv\, 

Ynis-'  ■ 


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OUR  PLAN  FOR  THE 
CHURCH  general 
HOSPITAL,  WUCHANG 


A STATiEMENT  of  the  MOST 
URGENT  NEED  in  the  DISTRICT 
OF  HANKOW 


^'Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto 
one  of  the  least  of  these,  my  breth- 
ren, ye  have  done  it  unto  Me'' 


THE  board  of  missions 
281  FOURTH  AVENUE  NEW  YORK 


For  copies  of  this  leaflet  address  Literature  Department,  281  Fourth 
Avenue,  New  York.  Ask  for  No.  211. 


a 


THE  PRESENT  CHURCH  GENERAL  HOSPITAL,  MEN’S  DEPARTMENT 

This  faces  west;  the  new  buildings  will  face  south.  From  the  position  in  zvhich  the  picture  is  taken 
one  would  be  looking  tozvard  the  rear  of  the  nezv  buildings.  They  lie  upon  and  beyond  the  site  of  this 
present  building.  The  sky-line  beyond  ts  Serpent  Hill,  from  the  crest  of  which  the  guns  of  the  revolu- 
tionaries drove  away  the  Viceroy  on  the  night  of  October  10,  1911.  The  open  space  in  the  foreground 
marked  by  the  bit  of  statuary  tve  do  not  ozvn. 


THE  HOUSE  THAT  NOBODY  BUILT 

By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Logan  H.  Roots,  D.D. 


This  title  is  a true  description 
of  one  great  medical  work 
in  Central  China.  It  is  being 
carried  on,  literally,  in  a house  that 
nobody  built ! Congeries  of  Chinese 
buildings,  grading  from  bad  to  worse, 
sheds  patched  with  mats,  basement 
bedrooms  and  other  intolerable  condi- 
tions, surround  some  of  the  most  de- 
voted workers  which  the  Church  has 
sent  forth,  and  hamper  and  mar  the 
efficiency  of  their  work. 

The  fact  that  all  this  is  an  outcome 
and  result  of  missionary  success, 
makes  the  situation  the  more  deplor- 
able. Because  our  snug  little  hospital 
work  known  as  the  Elizabeth  Bunn 
Memorial,  and  our  work  for  men 
known  as  St.  Peter’s  Hospital,  were 
successively  crowded  out  of  the  com- 
pound by  the  rapid  growth  of  Boone 


University,  and  were  at  the  same  time 
beckoned  by  the  opportunity  for  larger 
work  in  a more  needy  part  of  the  city, 
a situation  which  can  no  longer  be 
endured  has  arisen. 

In  the  early  days  of  missions  it  was 
necessary  to  do  medical  work  in  a very 
primitive  way.  Small,  unsanitary  na- 
tive buildings  were  usually  all  that 
could  be  secured,  and  one  doctor,  with 
almost  no  equipment,  had  to  contrive 
somehow  to  treat  several  times  as 
many  patients  as  he  could  possibly 
take  adequate  care  of.  It  was  deaden- 
ing to  his  scientific  training,  exhaust- 
ing to  his  health,  and  not  infrequently 
withering  to  his  spiritual  life.  Yet 
many  medical  missionaries,  under 
these  almost  insuperable  difficulties, 
showed  such  consecration  that  they 
opened  for  Christianity  doors  other- 

3 


4 


The  Church  General  Hospital,  Wuchang,  China 


wise  completely  barred.  For  such 
men  and  women,  and  the  wonderful 
work  they  did  under  such  circum- 
stances, there  can  be  only  unbounded 
admiration. 

But  times  have  changed  in  China. 
Educational  agencies  have  been  at 
work  here  for  many  years,  and  some 
at  least  of  the  Chinese  are  beginning 
to  look  for  more  than  merely  conse- 
crated service  on  the  part  of  the  doc- 
tor. They  desire  also  the  advantages 
brought  to  Western  lands  by  the 
modern  advances  in  science.  Such 
services  cannot  be  adequately  rend- 
ered, even  by  the  most  devoted  doctor, 
if  he  or  she  is  attempting  to  do  the 
work  of  three  or  four  persons,  in  the 
most  inconvenient  and  not  altogether 
sanitary  quarters,  with  less  equipment 
than  many  an  American  hospital 
boasted  thirty  or  forty  years  ago. 

The  Opportunity 

Wuchang  is  at  the  heart  of  Central 
China.  It  is  one  of  ancient  China’s 
ancient  cities,  and  is  now  the  political 
and  educational  center  for  some  fifty 
million  people.  Hankow  and  Han- 
yang are  practically  a part  of  Wu- 
chang, and  the  three  cities  grow  stead- 
ily in  commercial  and  industrial,  as 
well  as  in  political  and  educational  im- 
portance. These  conditions,  together 
with  the  fact  that  the  few  who  lead 
and  rule  congregate  in  such  a capital 
and  actually  dominate  the  communi- 
ties from  which  they  come,  make  Wu- 
chang an  ideal  situation  for  an  insti- 
tution which  has  the  comprehensive 
aim  of  a modern  Christian  hospital  in 
China. 

That  aim,  which  has  become  in- 
creasingly clear  as  our  experience  has 
extended,  is  threefold:  (1)  to  relieve 
suffering,  (2)  to  afford  a model  which 
the  Chinese  may  safely  imitate,  and 
(3)  to  become,  in  time,  a means  by 
which  Chinese  Christians  may  make 
their  own  contribution  to  the  healing 
and  sanitation  of  their  great  land. 

The  story  of  how  our  hospital  work 


in  Wuchang  has  reached  its  present 
position  of  great  opportunity  is  a long 
one,  full  of  the  devotion  of  medical 
missionaries — doctors  and  nurses,  men 
and  women  from  America, — their  pa- 
tience and  skill  in  overcoming  preju- 
dice and  superstition,  and  the  co-oper- 
ation of  all  branches  of  the  Mission 
in  training  Chinese  doctors  and  nurses. 
Romance  and  heroism  abound  in  that 
story.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  im- 
mense difficulties  have  been  overcome, 
so  that  now  we  have  a site  of  about 
three  acres,  in  the  very  best  part  of 
Wuchang  (the  last  purchase  com- 
pleted only  in  April  of  this  year),  and 
a staff  of  foreign  and  Chinese  workers 
of  whom  the  Church  may  well  be 
proud.  We  need  more  workers,  of 
course.  We  shall  doubtless  need  more 
land  also  in  the  future.  But  the  pres- 
ent staff  and  the  present  site  call  first 
of  all  for  a hospital,  dispensary, 
nurses’  homes,  and  dwellings  for  the 
staff,  to  replace  the  makeshifts  with 
which  we  have  had  to  be  satisfied  for 
the  past  eight  years. 

Two  remarks  should  be  made  at  this 
point — first  in  acknowledgment  and 
explanation  to  the  generous  friends 
who  have  given  towards  the  $30,000 
asked  four  years  ago  for  our  Wuchang 
Hospital.  The  $15,000  then  asked  for 
the  Women’s  Department  has  been  al- 
most all  contributed,  and  considerable 
amounts  have  also  been  given  towards 
a similar  sum  for  the  Men’s  Depart- 
ment. 

Why  do  we  not  confine  ourselves  to 
the  plans  we  had  when  these  sums 
were  solicited?  The  answer  is  that 
the  situation  has  developed  so  that  our 
plans  of  four  years  ago  are  now  quite 
inadequate.  This  inadequacy  may 
have  been  due  to  lack  of  faith  on  our 
part.  At  any  rate  the  incalculable 
element  involved  in  the  situation  was 
not  correctly  estimated,  for  on  the  one 
hand  we  have  actually  purchased  a site 
which  four  years  ago  we  could  hardly 
have  dreamed  of  securing;  and  on  the 
other  hand  both  the  Board  of  Missions 


The  Church  General  Hospital,  Wuchang,  China 


5 


in  New  York  and  the  missionaries  in 
China  have  reached  a point  of  expect- 
ancy regarding  the  will  of  the  Church 
in  America  to  support  our  medical 
work,  which  has  made  it  impossible 
not  to  formulate  larger  plans  than 
those  with  which  we  began.  The 
Board  reached  this  position  ahead  of 
the  missionaries,  and  great  was  the 
disappointment  of  the  staf¥  in  China 
when  last  year  the  Board  halted  the 
building  of  the  Women’s  Department, 
for  which  plans  had  been  drawn  and 
the  contract  was  about  to  be  let.  This 
disappointment  was  greatly  tempered, 
however,  when  it  became  plain  that  the 
delay  might  mean  larger  plans  and 
altogether  more  adequate  equipment. 
We  now  confidently  hope  that  the  new 
and  larger  plans  will  commend  them- 
selves to  our  Church  people,  and  se- 
cure prompt  support. 

In  the  second  place,  a word  should 
be  said  about  the  relations  of  this  hos- 


pital to  the  plans  of  the  China  Medical 
Board  of  the  Rockefeller  Foundation. 
Why  should  the  Church  be  pushing 
such  a plan  as  this  for  a hospital  when 
the  China  Medical  Board  is  putting  so 
much  money  into  modern  medical 
work  in  China  ? The  answer  is  that 
the  China  Medical  Board’s  work, 
while  definitely  intending  to  co-operate 
with  the  regular  medical  missionary 
work,  does  not  relieve  the  missions  of 
burdens  they  have  hitherto  carried  for 
hospital  work.  It  intends  to  help  them 
mainly  by  taking  over  the  chief  burden 
of  medical  education  and  supplying  a 
larger  staff  of  both  Chinese  and  for- 
eign workers  to  do,  with  fewer  handi- 
caps, the  work  they  have  all  along 
been  trying  to  do.  And  the  very  ex- 
cellence of  the  medical  standards 
which  will  thus  be  reached  by  the 
Chinese  will  both  require  and  make 
possible  far  more  efficient  hospital 
work,  such  as  our  plans  contemplate. 


WHAT  IS— AND  WHAT  SHOULD  BE 
By  Mary  Latimer  James,  M.D. 


WILL  not  the  American  Church 
rise  to  the  occasion  and  plant 
in  this  important  city  of  Cen- 
tral China  a modern,  well-equipped 
hospital  and  nurses’  training  school? 
We  ask  not  merely  for  the  gold  neces- 
sary to  put  up  airy,  sanitary,  conven- 
ient buildings,  with  modern  equip- 
ment. but  also  for  the  finest  Christian 
doctors  and  nurses  to  labor  to  build 
up  this  institution.  Only  the  best  are 
good  enough.  Such  a statement  makes 
us  feel  the  imperfection  in  ourselves 
whom  you  have  already  delegated  to 
this  work.  But  will  you  not  send  us 
new  recruits  to  make  up  what  we  lack 
in  spirituality  and  skill?  The  inces- 
sant grind  of  work  has  left  us  too  little 
time  for  spiritual  refreshment  as  well 
as  too  scanty  opportunities  for  medical 
study.  That  octopus,  the  Chinese 


language,  eats  up  the  otherwise  un- 
occupied moments  of  those  of  us  who 
were  thrust  into  full-time  medical 
work  from  the  day  of  our  arrival.  May 
not  workers  be  sent  to  us  in  such  num- 
bers and  sufficiently  soon  to  make  it 


TUBERCULOUS  CHILD  ON  STRETCHER 
**Ten  a.  in.  and  all  the  kiddies  are  carried  out  into 
the  court  for  the  rest  of  the  day'* 


The  Church  General  Hospital,  Wuchang,  China 


possible  for  each  to  have  at  least  one 
year  to  study  the  Chinese  language 
before  launching  out  upon  the  absorb- 
ing work  of  a hospital?  If  workers 
still  cannot  be  sent  out  until  our  fur- 
loughs are  overdue  or  our  health 
broken,  they  will  be  forced  to  repeat 
the  old  story.  The  Women’s  Depart- 
ment of  the  hospital  alone  urgently 
needs  one  more  woman  doctor  and  two 
more  nurses  this  year,  and  another 
doctor,  and  nurse  within  the  next  three 
or  four  years. 

Now  will  you  bear  with  me  while  I 
tell  you  a few  of  the  mechanical  dif- 
ficulties under  which  we  now  work  in 
the  present  Women’s  Hospital?  In 
our  operating  room  beautiful  yellow 
fungus  springs  from  our  floor  over 
night,  and  green  mold  is  like  the  poor 
— always  with  us.  Our  sterile  goods 
must  be  frequently  sunned  and  rester- 
ilized, else  mildew  will  invade  even 
these  sacred  precincts.  Wuchang  is 
proverbially  damp,  and  our  low  native 
buildings,  with  floor  beams  laid  right 
on  the  ground,  greatly  accentuate  this 
natural  difficulty.  Our  rotting  floors 
not  infrequently  let  a nurse  or  bed 
through  to  the  earth  rather  unex- 
pectedly, at  most  inopportune  mo- 
ments. 

Moreover,  our  quarters  ramble  in 
such  a way  as  absolutely  to  defy  heat- 
ing, even  in  the  bleakest  weather.  Chil- 


blains on  hands  as  well  as  feet  are  the 
natural  accompaniment  of  winter,  for 
both  Chinese  and  foreign  workers. 
Frequently  I attempt  to  pull  a tooth 
or  perform  some  other  slight  surgical 
feat  with  hands  so  numb  and  swollen 
that  I can  hardly  grasp  my  instrument. 
Winter  before  last  it  was  so  cold  that 
the  bichloride  solution  for  hand  disin- 
fection froze  over  and  over  again 
through  the  day. 

We  are  forced  to  cook  in  a dark, 
shed-like  structure,  wedged  into  the 
angle  of  a building,  and  I am  not  in- 
frequently put  to  it  to  cheer  up  the 
cook  and  provide  warm  food  for  pa- 
tients and  nurses,  when  snow  swirls 
around  his  neck,  or  heavy  rains  wash 
away  not  merely  his  fire,  but  also  his 
primitive  brick  stove.  Our  “laundry” 
is  similarly  convenient ! The  drying- 
room  is  conspicuous  by  its  absence. 

Our  Chinese  nurses  live  in  low, 
damp  rooms  which  make  it  very  dif- 
ficult for  us  to  keep  them  in  good 
health.  Yet  the  training  of  nurses  is 
one  of  the  most  important  features  of 
medical  work  in  China  today.  .Our 
own  quarters  are  so  damp  and  breath- 
less that  we  have  not  dared  to  risk 
spending  another  summer  in  them. 
Hence,  to  our  deep  regret,  the  Wo- 
men’s Hospital  is  closed  this  summer 
as  it  has  had  to  be  closed  almost  every 
sxmimer  in  its  long  history.  Last  year 
we  kept  it  open, 
but  at  too  great  ex- 
pense to  the  health 
of  ourselves  and 
our  Chinese  nurses. 
May  the  summer 
of  1917  find  us  in 
a sanitary  building, 
and  with  such  a 
staff  that  the  ques- 
tion of  closing  need 
not  even  be  dis- 
cussed ! 

To  turn  now 
from  our  needs  to 
what  we  really 
have,  let  me  tell  you 


"Yes,  we  are  nurses!  Not  fat,  hut  padded!  No  furnace!” 


The  Church  General  Hospital,  Wuchang,  China 


7 


The  little  girl  in  center,  Pao  Chu,  is  the  waif 
adopted  by  Dr,  James 


about  the  sunny  children  that  crowd 
three  rooms  of  our  primitive  hospital. 
Many  of  them  are  little  cripples  with 
tubercular  bone  disease,  who  must 
spend  long,  long  months,  or  sometimes 
years,  lying  flat  on  their  backs,  with 
weights  attached  to  their  legs.  We 
have  had  Bradford  frames  (a  sort  of 
canvass  stretcher  with  iron  rims) 
made  for  them  here  in  China,  and 
every  good  day  we  carry  them  out  into 
the  little  courtyard  in  the  center  of  the 
hospital.  The  nurses  have  learned  to 
give  them  such  care  as  one  might  be 
proud  of  even  in  America. 

I have  never 
seen  a happier  set 
of  children  than 
our  little  cripples. 

They  are  fond  of 
the  nurses,  always 
ready  to  respond  to 
our  advances  or  to 
those  of  visitors, 
and  eager  to  learn 
anything  and 
everything.  The 
Biblewoman  gives 
them  regular  in- 
struction in  reading 
their  own  language, 
and  also  teaches 
them  Bible  stories 
and  the  simpler 


doctrines  of  the  Church.  Anyone 
who  will  teaches  them  hymns.  In 
these  they  fairly  exult.  Should  you 
visit  our  children’s  wards  you  would 
probably  find  yourself  compelled  to 
stand  and  listen  to  all  the  verses  of 
“There’s  a Friend  for  Little  Chil- 
dren,” “Oh,  Come,  All  Ye  Faithful,” 
or  some  other  of  their  favorite  hymns. 

But  not  all  our  children  are  cripples. 
Many  come  in  with  acute  diseases,  and 
these,  too,  soon  respond  to  the  spirit 
of  cheer  in  th'e  wards.  Last  year  a 
little  four-year-old,  covered  with  sores 
and  exhausted  by  a raging  fever,  tot- 
tered into  our  gate,  all  alone.  She  was 
only  a girl,  and  the  family  had  too 
many  of  these  already.  They  cared 
only  just  enough  for  her  to  direct  her 
to  our  doors.  Touched  by  her  sweet 
plaintiveness  I decided  to  keep  the 
little  tot  as  my  own  child.  Now  she 
is  clean  and  well,  and  a regular  sun- 
beam in  our  wards.  Her  name  is  Pao 
Chii  (Precious  Jewel).  Though  she 
must  live  at  the  hospital  until  old 
enough  to  go  to  St.  Hilda’s  School, 
she  is  by  no  means  in  our  way.  She 
is  taught  to  think  of  the  little  cripples 
and  to  pick  up  their  toys  for  them. 
Not  infrequently  I detail  her  to  con- 
sole and  amuse  some  homesick  new- 
comer. 


DR.  JAMES  HOLDING  A CLINIC 
"Toward  the  end  of  a long  day  we  don’t  always  smile  like  this" 


8 


The  Church  General  Hospital,  Wuchang,  China 


Our  adult  patients  also  are  not  with- 
out their  appealing  side.  Just  a week 
ago  Father  Wood  baptized  a poor  old 
woman  with  cancer.  When  she  came 
to  us  first,  about  a year  ago,  her  dis- 
ease was  far  beyond  hope  of  cure,  but 
we  were  able  to  relieve  her  a little. 
Since  then,  whenever  her  condition 
has  become  intolerable,  she  has  re- 
turned. In  these  brief  sojourns  in  the 
hospital  she  has  learned  to  know 
Christ.  Another  patient,  a woman  on 
whom  I performed  a radical  opera- 
tion for  advanced  tumor  of  the  breast, 
showed  a wonderful  change  of  dispo- 
sition while  in  our  wards.  At  first 
she  was  one  of  the  most  disagreeable 
persons  I have  ever  had.  Gradually, 
however,  she  developed  into  a most 
attractive  little  woman.  She  and  her 
daughter  have  both  promised  to  at- 
tend St.  Michael’s  Church,  and  I hope 
they  may  enter  the  regular  prepara- 
tion class  this  autumn. 

Our  surgical  cases  seem  more  in- 
clined to  listen  to  the  Gospel  than  our 
medical  patients,  probably  because  the 
help  we  can  give  is  more  spectacular. 
I frequently  think  of  the  bright,  smil- 
ing face  of  a Mrs.  Chii  from  whom  I 


removed  an  enormous  abdominal 
tumor  about  eighteen  months  ago.  In 
the  impressionable  period  before  and 
after  the  operation  Miss  Byerly  spoke 
to  her  often  of  the  love  of  Christ. 
Gradually  faith  was  kindled  in  her, 
and  last  winter  she  was  baptized.  I 
might  tell,  too,  of  a woman  with  tuber- 
culosis who  came  to  us  too  late  for 
bodily  cure,  but  in  time  to  receive 
from  our  Lord  the  comfort  of  that 
faith  which  can  alone  save  the  soul. 

Hospital  work  is  interesting,  and 
wonderfully  inspiring  in  the  possibili- 
ties it  gives  to  present  the  Gospel  to 
those  in  an  impressionable  condition 
and  with  an  abundance  of  leisure  to 
listen.  But  if  the  conditions  of  work 
are  so  trying  that  all  our  best  energies 
are  used  up  with  the  routine  profes- 
sional work  and  the  petty  details  of 
unfit  kitchen,  laundry,  etc.,  can  wc 
give  our  best  spiritually  to  these 
people?  And  must  we  pursue  anti- 
quated medical  methods  in  unsanitary 
quarters  while  the  march  of  progress 
passes  us  by?  Will  not  the  Church 
answer  this  question  now  by  supply- 
ing not  only  the  necessary  gold  but 
also  consecrated,  thoroughly-trained 
workers  ? 


OUR  “CURE-HALL”  FOR  MEN 
By  Elisa  L.  Roots 


The  above  is  the  nearest  literal 
translation  which  can  be  made 
of  the  Chinese  term  for  hospital. 
When  sick  folk  come  to  seek  the  for- 
eign dispenser  of  health — whom  they 
have  heard  of  as  the  organizer  and 
president  of  the  Chinese  Red  Cross 
Society — they  find  him  in  what  is 
known  as  the  Men’s  Department  of  the 
Church  General  Hospital. 

Its  situation  is  truly  an  ideal  one  for 
the  purpose.  It  is  within  easy  reach 
of  the  residential  section  of  the  city, 
yet  not  far  from  its  busiest  business 
portion.  It  is  close  also  to  one 


the  military  camps  and  to  the  gov- 
ernment offices,  while  on  that  side  of 
the  city  also  are  the  mint  and  several 
factories,  all  of  which  the  hospital  has 
been  able  to  serve,  even  with  its  pres- 
ent inferior  plant  and  equipment. 

The  buildings  found  on  the  site 
when  it  was  bought  had  been  the  home 
of  a rich  Manchu,  and  outwardly  have 
hardly  been  altered  since  then,  because 
to  do  anything  worth  while  would  have 
cost  a great  deal,  and  we  were  always 
hoping  for  a new  hospital.  The  ent- 
rance is  quite  imposing,  as  you  see  it 
from  the  gate,  looking  up  the  long 


The  Church  General  Hospital,  Wuchang,  China 


.9 


walk,  flower-bordered,  with  an  exer- 
cise ground  for  the  men  nurses  on  one 
side  and  a tennis  court  for  the  foreign 
staff  on  the  other.  Its  two  wings  have 
rooms  which  house  dispensary  on  one 
side  and  a chapel  on  the  other. 

On  any  dispensary  day  prospective 
patients  are  seen  scattered  all  the  way 
from  the  gate  to  the  waiting-room 
door  and  crowded  inside  as  well.  Be- 
tween two  and  three  hundred  are 
treated  every  week,  and  always  by  a 
foreign  doctor,  and  with  supervision 
of  a foreign  nurse.  This  care  might 
be  thought  a sine  qua  non,  but  until 
we  secured  our  increase  of  staff — the 
second  doctor  from  America  (Dr. 
Wassell),  Dr.  Char,  a Honolulu  Chi- 
nese, and  two  American  nurses — this 
was  not  found  possible;  and  is  not 
found  possible  in  many  hospitals  in 
China  to  this  day.  The  reason  is  plain. 
Formerly  the  hospital  “rounds,”  all 
operations,  keeping  the  hospital  books, 
instruction  of  nurses,  private  calls  and 
care  of  a second  dispensary  on  the 
other  side  of  the  hill,  besides  care  of 
the  students  of  Boone  University,  of 
the  members  of  the  Wuchang  foreign 
mission  staff,  attendance  on  committee 
meetings,  etc.,  all  fell  upon  the  should- 
ers of  one  man.  And  the  work  has 
grown. 

Readers  of  The  Spirit  of  Mis- 
sions will  remember  the  remark- 
able work  done  by  Dr.  MacWillie  dur- 
ing the  revolution  as  organizer  and 
president  of  the  Red  Cross  Associa- 
tion. This  timely  public  service  gained 
great  prestige  for  our  hospital,  and  its 
opportunities  for  service  doubled  from 
that  moment.  They  could  not  all  be 
accepted  while  only  one  man  held  the 
fort.  But  at  last  help  came,  and  many 
good  things  followed  the  coming,  first 
of  nurse,  then  of  doctor.  The  ignor- 
ant, “sloppy,”  half-coolie,  half-orderly 
of  the  olden  times  is  now  a figure  of 
the  past.  The  nurses  now  are  boys  of 
some  education  to  begin  with,  and  un- 
der the  instruction  of  the  foreign  staff 
they  are  prepared  to  try  for  the  certifi- 


DR.  MacWILLIE  and  ADMIRAL  SAH 


cate  offered  either  men  or  women 
nurses  by  the  Central  China  Medical 
Society.  One  of  the  Wuchang  clergv 
acts  as  hospital  chaplain,  and  under 
him  many  of  these  nurses  have  been 
prepared  for  baptism  and  confirma- 
tion, and  in  the  tiny  chapel  services 
are  held  which  are  a help  and  comfort 
to  nurses  and  patients  alike. 

Beyond  this  pavilion  is  the  main 
building,  — rectangular,  two-storied, 
high-ceilinged,  entirely  unheated  and 
guiltless  of  plumbing.*  This  building 
is  “semi-foreign”  in  plan  and  construc- 
tion. That  is  to  say,  it  has  a broad 
hall  running  from  front  to  back  in- 
stead of  rooms  built  around  a central 
court;  floors  are  of  wood,  windows 

* Heating  and  plumbing  the  entire  new  hosoital 
plant  will  cost  about  $11,000.  Will  you  not  help 
to  keep  nurses’  and  patients’  feet  and  hands  warm 
in  1917,  even  though  they  must  be  covered  with 
chilblains  this  one  winter  more? 


ti-OCZ  I LhTi 

I^iLCHUr.CH  GLHLZAL  HO/PiTAL  WUGHANG  CHINA 


/MATTUC/ C- Hu-'/LY  AiCHT.' 

y><AWGK>-  CU'CHCO 


The  property  is  400  feet  wide  and  SOO  feet  deep.  The  extreme  length  of  the  main  hospital  building 

is  220  feet 


and  doors  are  built  and  set  in  foreign 
fashion  and  the  second-story  is  not  a 
mere  loft,  but  high  like  the  first. 
Down-stairs,  first  come  the  administra- 
tion rooms — doctor’s  offices,  labora- 
tories, etc.,  and  behind  them  two  large 
wards,  arranged  much  as  all  wards  are 
arranged.  The  laboratory  has  done 
more  work  of  late  than  ever  before. 
Over  2,000  microscopical  examinations 
have  been  made  in  the  past  nine 
months.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  appara- 
10 


tus  and  furniture  are  crude  and  in- 
convenient, and,  says  Dr.  MacWillie, 
in  his  annual  report,  “the  department 
is  much  behind  what  it  ought  to  be.” 
The  plans  for  the  new  hospital,  one  is 
glad  to  note,  show  careful  provision 
for  its  development.* 

Up-stairs  more  wards,  private 
rooms  and  the  operating-room.  It  is 

The  two  new  laboratories  can  be  built  and 
equipped  at  a cost  of  about  $1,400.  What  person, 
who  believes  in  modern  bacteriological  research, 
will  give  this  sum  in  whole  or  in  part? 


The  Church  General  Hospital,  Wuchang-,  China 


11 


not  difficult  to  imagine  that  our  for- 
eign nurses,  trained  in  immaculate 
wards  with  every  convenience  at  their 
command,  have  many  dark  moments  as 
they  struggle  to  keep  cases  “clean”  in 
a place  designed  and  finished  by  a Chi- 
nese carpenter  and  lived  in  for  years 
by  a Chinese  family.  In  these  wards 
1,221  patients  have  been  cared  for  this 
past  year.  The  operating-room,  in  the 
rear  and  with  a north  light,  has  wit- 
nessed 390  operations  under  general 
anaesthesia.  The  difficult  operations 
which  constantly  present  themselves  in 
China  must  in  our  present  hospital  be 
performed  under  conditions  which  are 
a terror  to  doctor  and  nurse.  And  yet 
$4,000  would  provide  an  operating- 
room  which  would  be  nearly  perfect 
and  entirely  satisfactory. 

This  is  only  a glimpse,  and  of  the 
Men’s  Department  alone,  and  without 
the  detail  which  might  make  these 
spaces  live  with  hoping,  fearing,  suf- 
fering, grateful  human  beings. 

What  is  it  which  for  the  first  time 
gives  enthusiasm  to  us  who  look  on  at 
the  work  which  is  being  done  here, 
and  puts  hope  into  the  hearts  of  those 
who  have  summered  and  wintered  in 
these  crude  surroundings  ? The  splen- 
did site  for  the  United  Hospitals  is 
now  ours  and  all  but  paid  for.  Plans 


which  satisfy  the  two  superintendents, 
the  bishop  and  the  board  have  been 
drawn  up  and  provide  for  a hospital 
complete  and  up-to-date  in  every  re- 
spect. It  will  accommodate  only  150 
beds,  but  other  wings  can  be  added 
to  the  original  if  desired,  and  these 
150  persons,  besides  the  hundreds  of 
dispensary  patients  who  pass  through 
the  hands  of  our  staff,  will  have  as 
good  treatment  as  can  be  secured  any- 
where in  China.  The  staff  itself  will 
have  a good  chance  then  of  keeping 
their  health  (which  they  do  not  do 
now),  and,  moreover,  men  and  women 
of  high  ideals  will  not  have  to  shrink 
from  offering  themselves  to  help  suf- 
fering China  in  her  need.  The  Lord 
who  gave  His  own  best — everything 
that  He  was — demands  of  His  Church 
its  best.  At  present  we  are  inviting 
Chinese  men  and  women,  rich  and 
poor  alike,  within  hospital  walls 
which  we  would  not  think  fit  to  house 
cur  motor  cars  or  shelter  our  high- 
priced  machinery.  To  do  this  is  to 
discredit  our  Christianity  in  the  eyes 
of  those  Chinese — now  not  a few — 
who  have  seen  what  sort  of  hospitals 
we  demand  for  ourselves  in  America, 
and  who  are  quite  able  to  draw  their 
own  conclusions. 


WHAT  CERTAIN  SUMS  WILL  DO 


BUILDING: 

First  Section  (center  portion  main  hospital,  fireproof) $29,000.00 

Ward  Wings  (men  and  women),  fireproof  (each  $8,500) 17,000.00 

Heating,  plumbing  and  electric  wiring 11,000.00 

Out  Patient  Building  (for  both  men  and  women,  fireproof) ;..  10,000.00 

Home  for  Foreign  Nurses  (men’s  or  women’s  departments) 6,000.00 

Home  for  Chinese  Nurses  (men’s  or  women’s  departments) 5,000.00 

House  for  Doctor,  men’s  dyiartment  (or  for  two  women  doctors) ; or.  Men’s  Medical 
Ward  (20  beds);  or.  Men’s  Surgical  Ward  (20  beds);  or.  Children’s  Ward  (20 

beds);  each 4,000.00 

Women’s  Medical  or  Surgical  Wards  (10  beds)  each 2,000.00 

Clhapel  1,500.00 

Maternity  Ward  960.00 

Men’s  or  Women’s  Eye  Wards,  each 750.00 

Laboratory  (unfurnished,  men’s  or  women’s  department) 200.00 

EQUIPMENT : 

Instruments  of  all  kinds 4,000.00 

Laboratory  Equipment  (including  microscopes)  1,000.00 

Furniture  for  Chinese  Nurses’  Houses 1,000.00 

Furnaces,  etc.,  for  Chinese  Nurses’  Houses 1,000.00 

Chapel  Furniture  (Altar,  $75;  Font,  $25;  Lectern,  $15;  Stalls  and  Desk,  $35) 210.00 

Clothing  for  Convalescents  200.00 

Surgical  “Linen”:  Sheets,  $50;  Towels,  $50;  Gowns,  etc.,  $40 140.00 

One  Bed  (ISO  needed)  12.00 

One  Bedside  Table  (150  needed) 4.00 

One  Blanket  (450  needed) 1.00 

One  Sheet  (900  needed)  .70 


The  Length  of  the 
Building  is  220 
feet. 


THREE  FLOOR  PLANS  OF  THE  HOSPITAL 


WHAT  WILL  YOU  DO  ABOUT  IT? 


The  Church  General  Hospital 
surely  deserves  the  careful  atten- 
tion and  the  sympathetic  interest 
of  the  Church.  That  it  will  also  re- 
ceive the  material  aid  which  it  needs 
to  make  its  work  efficient — particularly 
the  financial  help  called  for  by  our  en- 
larged plans — cannot  be  doubted. 

These  plans  as  they  stand  contem- 
plate an  expenditure  of  $160,000. 
Part  of  this  sum,  however,  has  al- 
ready been  given,  and  our  plans  can 
hardly  seem  extravagant  whea  we  re- 
member four  things:  (a)  the  large 
amounts  already  contributed  by  the 
Chinese  themselves;  (b)  the  generous 
gifts  already  made  in  America;  (c) 
the  extent  of  the  land  and  buildings 
and  equipment  with  which  they  will 
provide  our  hospital  work;  and  (d) 
that  this  is  for  the  only  medical  work 
belonging  to  the  district  of  Hankow. 

The  most  important  contribution 
from  the  Chinese  came  in  recognition 
of  the  part  taken  by  the  Mission — es- 


pecially by  Dr.  MacWillie,  Dr.  Glen- 
ton  and  Miss  Higgins — in  the  Red 
Cross  work  at  the  time  of  the  revolu- 
tion. General  Li  Yuan-hung,  now 
President  of  the  Chinese  Republic, 
gave  $2,000  towards  the  purchase  of 
the  site.  Other  gifts  and  hospital  fees 
from  the  Chinese  added  $3,000  more 
for  this  same  purpose;  and  the  doc- 
tor’s dwelling  (our  only  permanent 
building,  costing  about  $4,000),  was 
entirely  the  gift  of  one  Chinese  gen- 
tleman. 

From  America  the  following  ^ums 
have  already  been  given:  Towards 
the  site,  $12,000;  towards  the  new 
Hospital,  $18,000;  and  $5,000  which 
will  entirely  provide  for  the  Chinese 
(men)  Nurses’  Home  connected  with 
the  Men’s  Department.  The  total  thus 
far  contributed  is  thus  $44,000,  of 
which  $9,000  has  come  from  the 
Chinese.  The  chief  items  in  the  new 
plans  are  as  follows: 


Site,  already  purchased  (three  acres)  (towards  this  $17,000  has  already  been  raised) $30,000.00 

Hospital  (fireproof)  both  Men’s  and  Women’s  Departments  (towards  this  $18,000  has  already 

been  raised)  75,000.00 

Dwellings  and  Nurses’  Homes  (seven  buildings)  (towards  this,  $9,000  has  already  been  raised)  35,000.00 
Equipment  (furniture,  bedding,  instruments,  etc.) 20,000.00 


Total  

Architects’  drawings  show  the  hos- 
pital plans  and  how  all  the  proposed 
buildings  will  stand  on  the  site  we 
have  now  secured. 

$5,000  will  provide  the  Men’s  or  the 
Women’s  Out  Patient  Build- 
ing, or 

$21,000  in  addition  to  the  $18,000  al- 
ready on  hand,  will  provide 
for  the  first  section  of  the 
main  building,  and  the  out- 
patient buildings,  for  both 
Men’s  and  Women’s  Depart- 
ments. 

These  buildings  are  of  the 
first  importance ; indeed,  we 
cannot  begin  to  build  until 


$160,000  00 

money  is  in  hand  for  these. 
With  this  sum  ($21,000  addi- 
tional) we  could  begin  to 
build  at  once. 

What  if  some  friend  of  the  Church 
and  of  China  would  give  outright  the 
whole  $116,000  needed  to  complete 
these  plans!  Valuable  time  of  mis- 
sionaries and  friends  in  America 
would  be  saved  in  soliciting  the  fund, 
a great  work  could  proceed  at  once, 
and  extend  its  influence  rapidly  among 
the  Chinese  people,  and — perhaps  most 
important  of  all — it  would  cheer  and 
hearten  the  whole  of  the  China  Mis- 
sion, especially  those  devoted  workers 
on  whose  health  and  efficiency  past 
conditions  have  told  so  severely. 


13 


A DAY  AT  THE  WOMAN’S  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE 
CHURCH  GENERAL  HOSPITAL 

By  Grace  Hutchins 


IT  was  a day  that  began  at  1 1 o’clock 
of  the  night  before.  Dr.  James 
and  Miss  Dexter  were  just  going 
to  bed  when  they  were  called  by  the 
little  Chinese  pupil  nurse  for  a case 
in  the  hospital.  During  the  night, 
while  they  worked,  one  leg  of  the  bed 
on  which  the  patient  was  lying  went 
through  a rotten  board  in  the  floor. 
The  pupil  nurse  who  was  helping  them 
fell  through  another  rotten  board. 
When  they  left  the  patient  at  half 
past  four  in  the  morning  there  was 
only  time  for  two  hours’  sleep  before 
beginning  the  round  of  daily  duties. 
It  happened  to  be  the  first  of  the 
month.  That  meant  accounts  to  be 
taken  and  wages  to  be  paid,  in  addi- 
tion to  “making  rounds”  as  usual.  If 
they  had  slept,  who  would  have  done 
the  work?  Dr.  James  was  the  only 
woman  doctor  this  year  in  a city  of 
500,000  people,  and  there  were  only 
four  men  doctors. 

That  afternoon  there  was  a medical 
meeting  in  Hankow.  Dr.  James  had 
to  go,  leaving  Miss  Dexter,  who  had 
less  than  a year’s  knowledge  of 
Chinese,  to  run  the  “clinic,”  Seventy 
women,  many  of  them  with  their  chil- 
dren, waited  in  the  courtyard  while 
the  Bible  women  talked  to  them,  and 
then  came  in,  each  in  turn,  to  explain 
their  symptoms.  It  was  hard  to  under- 
stand the  confused  explanations,  but 
in  many  cases  the  need  was  obvious. 

Clinic  lasted  till  nearly  6 o’clock. 
That  was  the  hour  for  the  nurses’ 
training  classes.  Dr.  James  came  back 
from  the  medical  meeting  in  time  to 
teach  her  class  in  physiology.  After 
only  four  years  in  China,  she  is  able 
to  teach  physiology,  anatomy  and 
materia  medica  in  Chinese.  Miss 
Dexter  taught  a class  too.  By  7 
o’clock  they  were  ready  to  rest. 

It  was  pleasant  to  find  American 

14 


mail  waiting  for  them.  One  letter 
told  of  a young  doctor  in  a big  city 
here  at  home.  He  had  hung  out  his 
shingle  on  the  street  where  so  many 
doctors  hang  out  their  shingles,  and 
at  last  after  long  waiting  his  first 
patient  had  come  to  consult  him.  One 
patient ! There  had  been  100  patients 
in  the  little  ramshackle  Chinese  hos- 
pital that  day — thirty  in-patients  and 
seventy  out-patients. 

Where  is  the  nurse  who  will  go 
out  at  once  to  help  them?  There  were 
hopes  of  two  who  might  come  out 
this  autumn.  But  they  have  gone  to 
France  for  several  months.  It  is  an 
“emergency  call”  in  China  no  less  than 
in  Europe. 

■ Miss  Dexter  writes  during  a much- 
needed  vacation  in  Kuling:  “If  there 
is  anything  you  can  do  or  say,  please 
help  us.  The  work  once  begun  must 
go  on,  if  it  is  possible,  but  on  lines 
which  are  not  a disgrace,  if  we  are  to 
put  our  lives  into  it.  Every  month 
makes  our  present  quarters  more  in- 
sanitary. And  it  is  with  heavy  hearts 
that  we  look  forward  to  taking  on  the 
work  again.  I am  sure  the  Church  at 
home  which  is  giving  so  liberally  to 
St.  Luke’s,  Tokyo,  would  give  us  the 
remainder  necessary,  and  allow  the 
medical  work  a chance  to  develop  into 
a real  force  for  good  in  the  mission.” 


At  the  General  Convention  in  St.  Louis,  after  a speech 
by  Bishop  Roots  at  one  of  the  Joint  Sessions,  a number 
of  persons  interested  in  the  Church  General  Hospital 
met  and  took  steps  toward  organization,  with  a view  to  secur- 
ing the  amount  needed  for  its  erection.  As  a preparation  for 
interviewing  others  they  themselves  pledged  nearly  $4,000. 
The  following  committee  was  then  chosen : 

Honorary  Chairman,  the  Rt.  Rev.  L.  H.  Roots,  D.D., 
Episcopal  Theological  School,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Woman’s  Committee 

Chairman,  Miss  Grace  Hutchins,  166  Beacon  Street, 
Boston,  Mass. 

Secretary,  Miss  Helen  A.  Littell,  147  Park  Avenue, 
Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

Treasurer,  Miss  Janet  Waring,  92  South  Broadway, 
Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

Mrs.  John  McE.  Ames,  Caney,  Kas. 

Mrs.  Stephen  Baker,  8 East  Seventy-fifth  Street,  New 
York. 

Mrs.  H.  L.  Burleson,  Bishop’s  House,  Sioux  Falls,  S.  D. 
Miss  S.  G.  Case,  Ferguson,  Missouri. 

Miss  A.  H.  Clark,  3948  Chestnut  Street,  New  Or- 
leans, La. 

Miss  Janet  Childs,  1612  Wesley  Avenue,  Evanston,  111. 
Miss  Gertrude  Ely,  Bryn  Mawr,  Pa. 

Miss  J.  S.  Hendrie,  Grosse  Pointe  Farms,  Mich. 

Mrs.  P.  G.  Hubert,  2144  Hobart  Boulevard,  Los  An- 
geles, Cal. 

Miss  Eleanor  James,  Rye  Seminary,  Rye,  N.  Y. 

Mrs.  Logan  Herbert  Roots,  63  Deerfield  Avenue,  Hart- 
ford, Conn. 

Mrs.  James  Grist  Staton,  Williamston,  N.  C. 

Miss  Tiffany,  The  Albion,  Baltimore,  Md. 

It  is  hoped  that  a men’s  committee  may  soon  be  formed 
and  that  some  interested  and  influential  layman  may  be 
found  who  will  be  willing  to  give  his  time  and  energy  to  the 
cause  and  take  the  chairmanship. 


Gifts  may  be  sent  either  to  Miss  Janet  Waring,  92  South  Broadway, 
Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  Treasurer  of  the  Woman’s  Committee,  or  to  George  Gordon 
King,  Treasurer  of  the  Board,  281  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  marked 
“Special  for  the  Wuchang  Hospital  Fund.” 


15 


/t  T the  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  held  in  St.  Louis  pre- 
ceding the  General  Convention  of 
IQI6^  Bishop  Roots  presented  and 
explained  the  plan  for  erecting  the 
Church  General  H os  pit  a f Wuchang. 
The  Board  manifested  cordial  inter- 
est and  unanimously  passed  the  fol- 
lowing resolution : 


RESOLVED : That  the  Board 
has  heard  with  great  satisfaction  the 
statement  of  the  Bishop  of  Hankow 
concerning  the  Church  General  Hos- 
pital in  Wuchang,  and  cordially  com- 
mends to  the  Church  his  appeal  for 
funds  necessary  to  carry  these  plans 
into  effect. 


3rd  Ed.  1-17.  lOM.  Scb. 


